Manufacturing hiring continues to improve

March 3, 2011

The U.S. private-sector labor force is forecasted to add jobs in manufacturing in March compared with last year, but hiring will ebb in the service sector for the same timeframe, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey for March 2011.

The manufacturing hiring index will improve in March on a year-over-year basis by a net of 12.0 points (a net of 45.7 percent of companies will hire in March, compared with a net of 33.7 percent that added jobs a year ago). Service-sector hiring will decrease in March by a net of 11.5 points (a net of 35.0 percent will add jobs, compared with a net of 46.5 percent that added jobs a year ago). The mixed results for March 2011 reflect a labor market that is still struggling to create a volume of new jobs that would reduce the high unemployment rate.

Nonetheless, the number of manufacturing companies with hiring plans in March (53.1 percent) is at a four-year high, and the layoff rate (7.4 percent) is at a four-year low. In services, the 39.2 percent of companies that plan to hire in March is far below the four-year high reached in 2010, but the layoff rate (4.2 percent) is at a four-year low.

The full report, which also includes data for recruiting difficulty, new-hire compensation, and vacancies, can be found here.